Nuestro Barrio Hosts Durham’s First Protest Against Venezuela War

On Nov. 8, Nuestro Barrio Liberation Café in Old East Durham hosted an emergency forum opposing a threatened war against Venezuela by the Trump administration. Triangle PSL, CODEPINK, Triangle DSA, and several other groups provided speakers and experts for a panel. Between 30 and 40 people attended the event, which appears to be the first protest in Durham concerning the potential conflict.

The ‘No War on Venezuela’ forum began with chants of “Money for jobs and education, not for wars and deportation”. The audience included many peace activists who had spent the last two years protesting US involvement in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

The first panelist was M. Paola Davila Uzcategui, who was born in Mérida, Venezuela. She discussed how US policies toward Venezuela have sown division among friends and family from the region.

“Right now, my family won’t love that I’m here”, said Uzcategui, “But something that we have talked about is that, regardless of our beliefs throughout the revolution, is that the Venezuelan people do deserve to live.”

Two decades of US wars in the Middle East and North Africa have directly or indirectly killed more than 4 million people, according to Brown University [1]. The second panelist, Omar Nabulsi of the Palestinian Youth Movement, participated in these wars as an American soldier. The experience of “seeing the machine from the inside” turned him into an anti-war activist.

Nabulsi remarked, “You don't have to be the most knowledgeable person to see this pattern of countries that refuse to bow down to imperialism where they are sanctioned, destabilized, and coups are organized against the government and the people.”

The emcee of the event, Victor Urquiza, is a member of Triangle PSL, which is best known for holding frequent pro-Palestine demonstrations in Raleigh’s Moore Square over the last two years. By holding what appears to be Durham's earliest protest against a threatened war in Venezuela, Triangle PSL burnishes its reputation as the Triangle’s leading anti-imperialist group.

The third panelist was Nada Mohamad from Palestinian Youth Movement. She discussed recent moves by Latin American countries to show solidarity with Palestine, despite themselves facing the threat of sanctions or invasion.

Mohamad said, “Cuba has routinely backed Palestine in the UN and condemned the genocide in Gaza and did so while living under a decades-long US embargo that is characterized as a form of economic warfare.”

Triangle PSL held a ‘Noche Cubana’ event in April 2025 that raised $2,000 for humanitarian relief. The group also held a ‘Break the Blockade’ teach-in and fundraiser at Nuestro Barrio in August 2025 [2].

The fourth panelist was Emily-Rose Gaeta, a member of CODEPINK. She joined the feminist anti-war group because of its viral videos where members ‘birddogged’ politicians on Capitol Hill to question them about AIPAC contributions.

To protest a potential war with Venezuela, Gaeta said, “We’re going to be hitting the streets, just like we did with Palestine, just like with Sudan, Congo, and Haiti.”

In February 2024, Durham became the largest city in NC to pass a ceasefire resolution during Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The resolution passed 5-2. It was opposed by mayor Leonardo Williams.

The fifth panelist was Tristan Bavol-Marques, a Triangle DSA member who leads its Venezuela Working Group. He was asked why the US was so strongly motivated to exert control over Venezuela.

Bavol-Marques said, “The main interest is oil. In the past, Venezuela has had an extremely oil-centric economy … Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world. That’s why we’re interested.”

The US is an aggressive state that has waged almost continuous wars for around four centuries. It announced its intention to dominate the Western Hemisphere through the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. Recent US invasions of Latin American countries include Panama in 1989, Grenada in 1983, and the Dominican Republic in 1965. Brutal US-backed dictatorships in the region are often referred to as ‘banana republics’.

Work Cited

1. Costs of War. (2025, October 7). Brown University. https://costsofwar.watson.brown.edu/costs/human

2. At Old East Durham Café, Socialists raise funds for relief in Cuba. (2025, September 5). Durham Dispatch. https://www.durhamdispatch.com/post/at-old-east-durham-cafe-socialists-raise-funds-for-relief-in-cuba